NPC Creation
It is frequently the case that the GM and players alike will need to craft NPCs for the game. Everything from nameless thugs, horrifying monsters, loyal followers, helpful allies, to tenacious summoned creatures will see the stage over the course of the narrative. This page offers you mechanics and advice on crafting your NPCs for every occasion. Allies Interaction Allies are contacts or friends of the player that will give him information, guidance, and other assistance, but doesn't actually join the player on adventurers. Allies are obtained via the Ally ''gift. Allies are their own people, and assist the player because it benefits them or they just feel like helping their cause, but are otherwise under no obligation to do so. Allies will outright refuse to provide assistance when the assistance would require that they violate their faction loyalties or personal beliefs. As a final note, Allies cannot provide assistance all the time and have limited resources to lend aid. As compared to Followers (see them below), Allies tend to be useful in a few key areas that they can perform with a high degree of competence, but are not always available. The GM represents that Ally just like any other NPC. Mechanics The mechanics of the ally radically diverge from that of most NPCs in the game world. Rather than rolling up a complete character sheet for them, the player selects an Ally trait that represents the area the ally is useful in. Optionally, the GM may decide to roll up a character sheet for them, but it is not strictly required. * '''Broker' - The ally is connected within a specific network of contacts that can be useful to the player. These contacts do not automatically grant the request of the player, but the Broker can secure a meeting with them. After that, it's up to the player to persuade the contact. The player should choose a logical network for the ally (criminals, politicians, demons, Vigils, nobles, etc.). * Dispatcher - The ally has underlings (or knows somebody who does) that can be dispatched to assist the player character. These underlings are almost never experts, and rarely amount to anything more than armed goons. An ally in the Legion might be able to send a few demonic thugs, or the local police commissioner can spare a few police officers to assist the player. These underlings arrive as fast as possible, and will generally follow the orders of the player. They will never agree to do anything that is outside of their alignment or would be needlessly risky. * Employer '- The ally is able to secure jobs and missions for the player. While many NPCs in the game world will give tasks to players, this ally can be counted on to consistently find odd jobs and favors that the player can do. The jobs offered will normally be relevant to the concept of the ally, and will generally offer rewards or favor with the ally. Doing jobs consistently for this Ally may eventually result in the player's wealth increasing. * '''Financier '- The ally possesses (or has connections to) wealth and resources that make the business of politics and maneuvering in the Dream more convenient. This ally is willing to occasionally provide some of this wealth to the player to assist in their goals, but this is rarely pure charity. The ally will often expect repayment, or the knowledge that the wealth is being used towards some greater machination of theirs. The wealth needn't take the form of bullion and cash, other common examples include: arranging for transportation, providing weapons or useful items, or procuring contraband or stolen items. * 'Informant '- The ally has their finger on the pulse of the comings, goings, alliances, feuds, and drama of a particular faction or community, and can provide valuable information to the player character. The ally can (given a reasonable amount of time) return answers to inquiries about their focus, but may also volunteer information or rumors of note without being asked. An example might be a mole in the Vigil Society leaking information about a bust on a shadow house in the Low Town, or a well-connected demonic banker informing the player about an unusually large transfer of cash by an esoteric noble. Informants rarely allow people to use their vast webs of information at no cost, often demanding favors or information in return. Dreamers Interaction Dreamers are the everyday, ordinary people that inhabit the Dream. They are completely unaware of the comings and goings of the underworld, and they are consumed with the concerns and desires of most people in the real world. Dreamers are responsible for the disastrous effects of observing supernatural events known as the Law of Conscious Rule. Dreamers make up the bulk of the Dream (go figure), outnumbering the Waking by more than 50 to 1. It should be no surprise then that the players will be interacting with them constantly, and it will be useful to be able to quickly create dreaming NPCs for combat and other interactions. The core importance of interactions with Dreamers, is that they behave like regular people from the real world. Mechanics Creating a Dreamer is very similar to creating a player character, except that any and all supernatural influences are removed entirely. Even Lucid Dreamers, who are at least subconsciously aware that not all is as it seems, lack supernatural abilities altogether. * Dreamers do not have Power or Resource attributes. As a consequence, they may have at maximum no talents, and have a resource pool of 0/0. * All other attributes function normally for Dreamers, and they start with two free attribute ranks instead of three. * Dreamers select skills normally (beginning with 20 ranks), but are ineligible for skills of the Supernatural difficulty. * Dreamers start with one gift and one flaw as normal, but none of these gifts may grant them perception or interaction with supernatural elements. * The only exception to the above rule is that very few Dreamers have a gift called Lucid ''which allows them to be aware that something about the world is amiss, but it does not grant them consistent and willful observations of the Waking world. Their view of the supernatural will seem hallucinatory and dream-like, and they have no power over when these visions occur. * Dreamers always have the alignment of ''Dreamer, but may have any other alignments that are not connected to the Waking world. * Dreamers begin play with whatever possessions they can afford and make sense to their concept. Very few Dreamers carry weapons, with law enforcement, military, and career criminals being noteworthy exceptions. Followers Interaction Followers are NPCs that have elected for one reason or another (money, fame, common goals, etc.) to join a player character on his adventures. Followers are obtained via the ''Follower ''gift, and join the player shortly after the gift is selected (within reason). Followers have their own personality, back story, capabilities, and desires. They will do almost anything to assist and defend the player they work with, but will not usually do anything overtly suicidal and are not considered necessarily subservient to the player. They have the free will to ignore stupid or abusive requests and can carry out tasks without the player present. Followers only know what their skills allow them to know, or what they've seen or heard. They will typically look to the player for guidance, but will voice their own opinions and ideas when prompted to. As compared to Allies (see above), Followers tend to be more broadly useful, but lack the high competence in a few areas that Allies have. GMs represent the follower in role-playing just like they would any other NPC in the game world. Mechanics Creating a follower is identical to creating a player character. The only way that followers differ from players is that they gain experience at half the rate of the player they are with. Simply put, every time the player gains experience, the follower gets half that amount if they were present for most of the episode. Summons Interaction Summons are creatures and constructs that are created or summoned for sole purpose of obediently serving their master. Summons are obtained via talents with the Summoning effect, and persist for the entire scene. What summons lack in permanence and intellect, they make up for in absolute obedience. Players control summons like they would their own character, with no action being too trivial or suicidal to dissuade them. A single talent always creates identical summons, the character sheet for which is created when the talent is obtained. Finally, even though Summons are eligible to have talents, their talents may never contain a summoning effect. Mechanics Creating a summon is very similar to making a player character, but differs in a few important ways. Summons start with a set character sheet, and then receive bonus experience to spend based on rank. ''Summon''''' * Body - Poor (-2) * Mind - Terrible (-3) * Charm - Terrible (-3) * Perception - Poor (-2) * Power - Terrible (-3) * Resource - Terrible (-3) Skill Points - 10 Gifts - 1 Flaws - 1 Talents: 0 The starting experience of the Summon depends on the rank: * Terrible (-3): 0 * Poor (-2): 5 * Mediocre (-1): 10 * Fair (+0): 20 * Good (+1): 30 * Great (+2): 45 * Superb (+3): 60